Girls In SHAPE Aims To Battle Summer Lethargy

By Nancy K. Crevier

Balancing on a stability ball is not the only kind of balance girls will find when they sign up for the Parks and Recreation Girls in SHAPE program offered at the teen center on Church Hill Road this summer by KidsFit instructor Heather Law and her associates, Heather Morgan and Susan MacMullan. The hourlong classes offered in 3 one-week sessions will teach young women balance in several areas of life, including self-esteem, health, and nutrition.

Girls in SHAPE, which stands for Strength, Healthy, Happy Attitudes and Physical Endurance, is the brainchild of Ms Law, a children’s fitness instructor for 11 years, and Ms MacMullan, an exercise physiologist and personal trainer.

“I noticed so many kids are inactive,” said Ms Law. “If they are not involved in sports, they need a niche to keep fit. They need a place for girls to stay in shape.” She had also heard from many of the KidsFit toddler program alumni that they wished they could come back to her class.

Ms MacMullan recognized that the program could be a venue for a healthy image building. While childhood obesity has made headlines, eating disorders are becoming an issue for girls, even very young ones. “I have had parents of girls as young as 6 years old tell me that the kids are worrying about being fat,” she said. So, not only will SHAPE girls take part in fun exercise activities, they will also find SHAPE a place where they can talk about feeling, health and nutrition.

“We want to help girls recognize how the body feels and realize that it’s not possible to eat all of the good stuff they need in one day, but to look at food intake over the course of a week,” said Ms MacMullan. “We let them know that it’s okay to have junk food sometimes, but they need to balance that out if they go to a sleepover and eat Cheez-Doodles and soda all night. They probably won’t feel so good the next day, but if they realize that, they can make better choices. We try to teach them to do and eat everything in moderation,” she said.

Ms Morgan, who is a 2006 graduate of Gordon College in Boston and has taken part in varsity athletics since her Newtown High School days, added that the program emphasizes a fun side of exercise. “We want kids to develop a lifelong habit of exercise,” she said, and the program hopes to achieve this through the incorporation of games and music as the girls stretch, roll, bounce, toss, and balance on the latex exercise balls.

“We play games that emphasize how special it is to be a girl,” Ms Morgan said. “We will turn on the music real loud and do games like sitting on the ball and passing another ball around the circle. It is amazingly hard to keep your balance when you are handing off another ball,” she said. Playground games that have fallen out of popularity with this generation will be revived at Girls in SHAPE.

“Lots of girls have never played some of the hand-eye coordination games, or know any of the old jump rope rhymes. I’ve taught them in other classes and the kids absolutely love them,” Ms Law said.

Helpful hints to take home are also a part of the curriculum for the week. “I tell them that if there’s a commercial on TV, they can take that time to fit in some exercise and move around,” Ms MacMullan said. “If they are out on a walk with their mom or dad, they can try walking on their toes or on their heels for part of the walk. Most girls don’t realize the importance of water, either, so we talk about how important it is to drink enough water every day.”

Along with other exercise and health-related information that the girls can think about outside of class, a motivational quote will be shared with the SHAPE participants regularly. “You’ve got to believe in yourself first,” “A smile is an invitation that you wear on your face,” and “Be strong — meet your problems head on,” are a few of the sayings that reflect the positive attitude the instructors hope to convey at Girls in SHAPE.

“Some girls are athletic, some are not, but everybody can benefit from the class,” insists Ms Law. “There’s no competition [in the class].”

The Parks and Recreation programs are only a week long, but all of the instructors hope that what they girls learn that week will carry over into the rest of the summer.

“Summer exercise can be fun,” said Ms Morgan. “Playing in the pool is exercise, as long as you aren’t floating around on a raft. Bike riding is great in the summer. Even if it is hot, you can still do five minutes of exercise at a time.”

Teaching girls to move every chance they get and to view exercise as a positive part of each day is a major goal for the Girls in SHAPE program, said Ms Law.

Girls in SHAPE was offered this past winter to girls aged 6 to 10 years old, and a program for girls 10 to 13 years of age was added in the spring. “The feedback from the parents and girls was terrific,” said Ms Law, so she has high hopes for the summer program.

To register for the classes, contact the Parks and Recreation Department at 270-4340. Girls 6 to 10 years of age can register for either the week of July 3 or the week of Aug 14; girls 10 to 13 years old can register for the July 31 session. For more information about the SHAPE curriculum, call Heather Law at 270-1120.

“We want the girls to have an overall sense of self-confidence, to have a passion and love of taking care of their bodies,” Ms Morgan said.